Actions and Reactions
by PhoenixTheCat
Summary: It seemed like just another Monday to Sync the Tempest, that was until Arietta the Wild awoke him in the dead of night. Now he's got a choice to make, and some rules to break, in order to prevent what he has foreseen. Implied SyncXArietta  not sure yet
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:**** Well, in honor of Valentine's Day, or more or less out of my boredom on Valentine's Day, I inadvertently ended up writing yet another 6+ pages in my notebook on the topic that was freshest in my mind. However, this time I decided that I should actually upload it, if only to get something onto my account. Please let me know if you would like me to continue work on this, as I often move from topic to topic, and end up forgetting all about things.**

**Disclaimer:**** I do not own Tales of the Abyss, or any of the characters- All rights belong to Namco Bandi**

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**"Hey… Sync…" Sync was rather uncomfortably awakened by the sharp prodding of a giant paw.

Cursing, he pulled the blankets over his head, hoping the wild child hadn't seen more than she was meant to. Thankfully, he had been sleeping facing the wall.

"Sync!" she hissed, this time signaling to her liger to jab him a little harder.

"What do you want, Arietta!" the green haired replica shot back, still quite bleary eyed. Judging by the darkened state of the room, the sun had not yet even begun to have risen, meaning it was scarcely even 5 in the morning. Needless to say, this did not please the young God General.

"Well… I didn't want to disturb Major Legretta," she started.

'Well you had no qualms about disturbing me!' Sync sneered in his head.

"-and I knew the others wouldn't help me. Sync, I- I-,"

"Out with it already." He said coldly. Burying his face in his pillow, he extended an arm to grapple with the clutter on his desk for his mask, or a heavy paperweight to throw at her.

"You, um, know what today is, right?" she asked tentatively.

'Was today different from any other day?' He fished through his weary mind for any recent events that seemed out of the norm As he retired late last night, he recalled a group of Oracle Soldiers attempting to hang a banner with 'St. Valentine's Day' written across it. 'Was that today?' Feeling the wooden grain of his mask beneath his fingertips, he drew it in and turned back towards the wall.

"Perhaps." came his reply.

"Then please help me… Help me snatch my Ion's heart back from that witch Anise!" Arietta roared, proclaiming her rival to be on the level of those who had killed the Liger Queen.

Ion… just the name made him more angry than she could ever know; and she had the nerve to ask him to help her with _him_…

"Did you seriously only wake me up," he pushed himself to his knees, clenching his fists, spitting venom as he went on, "So that _I_ could help _you_ look for that pathetic waste of space you call a _fon master_!" his mask concealing his eyes; a glare a sharp as daggers.

Arietta however missed these warning signs completely, blinded by the insult that had just been thrown in the direction of her beloved Ion.

"He is NOT a waste of space!" Arietta hissed with great fury, while her liger gave a low growl. "He's accomplished more than you could ever dream of. If anything, Sync, You're the waste of space!" At that moment Arietta fully expected Sync to lunge at her, but nothing became of it.

Instead, a small, self depreciating chuckle rang out through the silence, emanating from the one she did know to be an Ion replica. He turned to face her, a saddened grin upon his face, and stated, "If only you knew how right you are about me…"

"Sync! What is that supposed to mean?"

"Leave me alone, Arietta." He said, irritated, as he laid back down to face the wall once again.

"Fine! If that's how you're going to be, then I'll go alone. Then I'll get a chance to kill those who killed Mommy, too." And with that she whirled out of the room, clinging to her liger brethren as it sprinted down the hall.

Sync closed his eyes as he listened to the liger's footfalls fade into the night. As he attempted to get atleast an hour of sleep before his typical rude awakening, he couldn't help but feeling a twinge of regret for snapping at her. After all, 'She doesn't know." He sighed, "And it's not her fault regardless, but she's too naïve for her own good.' Slowly he drifted into an uneasy sleep.

When next he opened his eyes, he was standing in front of the Order of Lorelei HQ with no memory as to how he arrived there, The sky was dark and gloomy; clouds appearing to sag, whilst threatening to burst at every roll of thunder that boomed overhead. Minus the initial shock to his system, the first thing Sync realized was that he was without his mask. But one glance over his shoulder was enough to tell him that the streets of Daath were eerily devoid of life.

The wind began to pock up into a fierce gale that could rival even his Turbulence arte. Feeling as though he would be swept off his feet at any moment, he proceeded to enter the HQ. Once inside he was met with the eerie lack of presence that seemed to grip Daath itself. As the wind could be heard whistling outside, Sync picked up on something else that tainted the atmosphere so heavily he felt it could consume him; the sense of dread.

"Is anybody around here?" Sync called out to the hallow walls; only the echo of his cry returning to his ears.

Just as he was about to turn to leave, he spotted a figure approaching him from the corner of his eye. It was Arietta's liger, its head hung in shame. He was going to disregard the incident entirely, but the liger seemed to be beckoning for him to follow. Without even being completely aware of what he was doing, Sync obliged. The liger led him up the grand-looking stairs and stood by the door to the Cathedral, as if waiting for him to open it.

Taking a deep breath, Sync opened part of the door, allowing only enough room for himself to slip through, leaving the liger behind. The second he entered the room a scent hit his nostrils that told him something was very wrong; 'Blood.' His eyes trailed to the center of the room, where a wooden casket lay, top open, with what looked like the handle of a staff protruding from it. Curious, Sync approached it. Gazing down at the figure inside caused his face to go paler than one could ever imagine-

In the box lay Arietta, her own blood soaking her clothing; a spear through her heart.

"No…" Sync gasped, and fell to his knees.

"How could I have let something like this happen…?"

Sync woke with a start to find himself in his bedroom, The sun had not yet crested Mt. Zaleho, but peering out his window he saw that the night was dying. "The Necromancer is going to kill Arietta." He confirmed with himself, then he jumped out of bed and sprinted down the hall toward the lounge of sorts, in search of the man whom while he greatly detests, holds the one piece of information vital to what must be done. For Sync knew what he experienced was too vivid to be a dream, but a vision of a future where he lets Arietta die.

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Well, that's all for now. **

**Now I remember why I don't do this that often- it took me 2 hours to type this…**

**Please Review; Critiques welcome.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Well, this took longer than was meant to. I sort of lost inspiration with this. This chapter is actually put together from 3 separate pieces of paper. Forgive me if this seems shorter than the last. It's not nearly as interesting either.**

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Sync had known for some time now about the Reaper's morning activities- how he always awoke before dawn, taking particular enjoyment in tormenting the much less awake members of the God Generals in turn when they finally awoke in the morning.

Dist, however, had learned the hard way not to attempted to startle Sync. The last time Dist had chosen to target Sync, he ended up meeting a Turbulence arte head on. This inadvertently caused him to be sent, reeling, through a fourth story window.

'No doubt that went down in his revenge journal.' Sync smirked apathetically as he recalled how Dist had fallen to the courtyard below, his throne-like chair landing square on top of him. He had required the assistance from Largo to free himself from the wreckage.

Needless to say, the Reaper had been hesitant to trigger the Tempest's temper again.

Swiftly approaching his destination, Sync reminded himself of his what he'd set out to prevent, and how exactly he would have to go about it.. He skidded to a halt, and as quietly as he could, opened the door before him so that he could see in.

Sure enough, in the room lit only by the dawning sun, sat Dist the Reaper, though apparently stressing over one thing or the other. He was seemingly throwing another one of his tantrums, while pounding on the keyboard of his fon-tech computer.

"Great.. just when I actually require his aid.' Sync considered his options. He could go in there and smack the self proclaimed 'Rose' to his senses, but then he figured that Dist would be less likely to tell him what he wanted to know. Also, it would be a display of Sync's concern out in the open, and the Reaper would never let him live it down. Sync sighed, and with a show of restraint, chose a more diplomatic approach.

Still taking care to remain unheard until he chose to reveal himself, Sync opened the door just enough to allow him passage, then proceeded to sneak up to stand behind Dist. He then chose to rest a hand upon the Reaper's shoulder, and got a rather amusing result..

Dist, upon realizing who who exactly had the nerve to touch him shrieked, and jumped so high that he landed on the floor, missing his chair on the way down.

"Sync! How dare you sneak up on me! And why are you awake at- "

"Shut up." Sync cut him off, "You are going to tell me something."

"Why should I! Since when have you ever required intel from me that- Hey get out of my chair!" Dist shifted his ranting as he noticed where Sync chose to sit. Perhaps he enjoyed taunting Dist too much, Sync mused, but he was ever so easy to infuriate.

"Huh, what's that?" Sync half spoke to himself in regards to a a swift change of the fon-tech computer's screen. There appeared a flashing red icon reading 'Error' over what appeared to be a grid of coordinates, with several 'points' plotted hear and there.

At hearing this, Dist leaped up off the ground. For a split second he had a thought to push Sync from his chair, but knew the Tempest would take a painful revenge. So he opted for an attempt of moving the chair from in front of the screen, but only succeeding in budging it an inch or so before giving up and moving the screen instead. Sync was slightly amused that the Reaper hadn't thought of the latter first.

"No!" Dist's yell make Sync flinch a little in pain, "No fair Jade!" Then he heard the Necromancer's name; the very name Sync had come to despise nearly as much as the score itself.

'Why is that so..' he thought, trying to come to terms with the feelings he didn't believe he should have, but then shook his head, and leaped out of the chair to join Dist. "What happened?"

"Well, if you must know, they destroyed my beautiful Tracker Dist!" came his reply, which then swiftly disintegrated into some incoherent mumbling about a his revenge journal.

The mention of a tracking device caught the Tempest's attention. "Where!" he voiced, perhaps a little too quickly, a little to urgently..

Luckily it seemed Dist was too worked up to have picked up on Sync's uncharacteristic edginess that had bled into his tone. "The last transmission I have logged came not far from the Tartaroo Valley."

That was it. That was all Sync needed to hear, and that was where Arietta was going.

He never looked back as he rushed out of the room.


End file.
